UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION OF SAINT -LOWS 
G V 

^5 KINGDOM OF BELGIUM 



Pt YMNASTICS 



VII 




The training in Gymnastics 
in the State Secondary Schools 



Book • h S . 



THE TRAINING 



IN 



GYMNASTICS 



State Secondary Schools 



i 



Universal Exhibition of Saint-Louis 



KINGDOM OF BELGIUM 



Home and Public Instruction Department 



ADMINISTRATION OF SECONDARY INSTRUCTION 

THE TRAINING 
IN 

GYMNASTICS 

IN THE 

STATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



W 16 1904 
D. of 0, 



The training in Gymnastics in the 
State Secondary Schools 



I. — Organisation 

A. — EDUCATION ACT 

The law of June 1, 1850, by which 
the secondary education in Belgium 
has been organised, made gymnastics 
obligatory in all the classes of the 
royal Athenaea, of the State- secondary 
Schools, of the Preparatory Sections 
annexed to the latter, and also in the 
municipal and provincial schools sub- 
sidized by the Government and in the 
schools supported by the municipal 
authorities. 

However, no measure was taken to 



6 The Training in Gymnastics 



secure the success of this instruction. 
For, whereas the law stipulated that, 
in future, it would be necessary for 
the candidates for the functions of a 
« prefetdes etudes » a professor, a 
headmaster or an usher, to furnish 
proof of their being in possession of 
a diploma as a testimony of their 
capacity, it did not provide for the 
recruiting of the personnel charged 
with the physical education. Much 
more : no special programme was pro- 
vided for or fixed by the regulations, 
by which the professors might be 
guided. 

B. PROGRAMMES. 

It was not before 1862 that the 
Government required Dr Theis to 
draw up a programme of Gymnastics. 

Being devised in a spirit of wise 
moderation and of judicious applica- 
tion to the wants of the children and 
of the youth of the schools, this pro- 



in the State Secondary Schools 7 



gramme would have proved successful 
if the masters entrusted with teaching 
it, had been sufficiently acquainted 
with it, and if, on the other hand, 
they had endeavoured conveniently to 
establish the gymnasia, the apparatus 
and the distribution of time. All these 
things were neglected, the result 
being that the situation improved but 
little. 

Ten years later, the minister ordered 
the situation of gymnastics in Holland, 
in Sweden, in Denemark and in Ger- 
many, to be studied. 

The report published in conse- 
quence of this mission induced the 
Minister to constitute a Committee 
charged with elaborating a pro- 
gramme of instruction. 

The ideas that have been followed 
in drawing up this programme can be 
summarised as follows : 

1° The basis of school- gymnastics 
is the active, voluntary exercise ; 



8 The Training in Gymnastics 



2° The exercises must be natural, 
apply to all the joints of the body in 
all the movements that are proper to 
them, without going beyond the limits 
of their normal extent and the rcsis- 
ting-force of the articular ligaments ; 

3° In an obligatory instruction such 
exercises as expose the pupils to acci- 
dents and are injurious to their health 
or to their studies, may not be admit- 
ted ; an educational instruction also 
excludes the attitudes which are not 
in harmony with the dignity and the 
self-respect which the professor ought 
to inculcate to his pupils ; 

4° The programme must present 
an ensemble of exercises applicable 
to all the classes of students, forming 
for each of them a whole that deve- 
lops progressively according to the 
strength and the skill of the students 
through the energy of the perfor- 
mance and the complexity of the com- 
binations, rather than through the 
use of engines or exercises other than 
those admitted for early youth. 



in the State Secondary Schools 9 



In order to carry out this plan, the 
Committee had classified the exercises 
according to their kind : flections, 
extensions, rotations, etc., without 
apparatus, and exercises at each of 
the adopted apparatus, enumerating 
at the same time simple forms and a 
few compound ones applying to the 
different organs or to their parts. 

The natural exercise, made without 
the aid of apparatus, was chosen as 
the starting-point, for three reasons : 
1° in the opinion of the Committee it 
is that which best agrees with the mo- 
vements of life and which is most like 
the free play of children ; 

2° It allows any one, better than 
the exercises on the apparatus, to act 
according to his strength or his deve- 
lopment. 3° It can be applied every- 
where, even without a gymnasium. 

Besides, certain exercises were 
classed in special categories : i. e. 
such as, though belonging to gym- 
nastic .work, have a particular pur- 



10 The Training in Gymnastics 



pose either directly practical for usual 
life, or patriotic, or social and huma- 
nitarian. 

The programme did not enumerate 
all the positions, all the possible atti- 
tudes, and still less all the exercises 
that could be performed ; the profes- 
sor might himself compose his lessons 
and was judiciously to choose, out of 
the immense variety of exercises, such 
as were most attractive, usetul and 
harmonious. 

These principles are excellent ; 
had they been honestly applied, they 
would not have failed to prove most 
successful. And this was really the 
case in all the schools where skilful 
masters put them in practice by inter- 
preting the programme according to 
its tendency rather than to its letter. 

In other schools where a more nar- 
row, more material application has 
been made of it, the fruits of the 
instruction were not of equal value ; 
in certain cases they left even much 
to be desired. 



in the State Secondary Schools 11 



For, if we examine with some 
attention the work of the Committee 
of 1874, we soon discover that the 
principles on which they thought to 
establish it, had not been observed 
accurately. Moreover, it has been 
proved by experience that the scien- 
tific bases on which the developments 
of the programme were resting, were 
both vague and superficial, and that, 
on the other hand, the programme 
being thus drawn up, the field open 
to the teachers' initiative, was not 
wide enough ; such a programme did 
not give the latter, indications, clear 
and detailed enough for them to guid 
them and so to keep them on the 
right track. 

These facts induced the Govern- 
ment to revise the programme. Of 
late years, it resolved, thoroughly to 
reform the programmes of primary 
and of secondary education. This has 
already been done, as regards the 
secondary Schools, and it will proba- 



12 The Training in Gymnastics 



bly not be long ere such a work will 
be taken in hand for the royal Atke- 
ngea and the municipal Colleges. 

The part, concerning gymnastics, 
in the programme of the secondary 
Schools, is reproduced hereafter. 

PROGRAMME 

Lower Degree 

7. Elementary exercises without 
instruments 

1. Order -Exercises . — Education 
of the rhythm by means of marches 
and rounds with accompaniment of 
songs. — Easy proceedings for the 
formation of the ranks and the taking 
of distances. 

2. Real Exercises. — Simple exer- 
cises with a view to call forth the 
independence and the precision of the 
movements. — Easy combinations. — 



in the State Secondary Schools 13 



Imitating games. — Easy exercises 
of equilibrium on the floor. — Walk, 
marches, runs : on the spot, forward, 
sideways, backward ; on tiptoe, on 
the heels. — Cadenced running and 
free running. — Gymnastic walking, 
marching and running. — 

Skipping, close-legged and sprea- 
ding the legs out. — High jump and 
long jump. 

Pursuing and other games invol- 
ving the action of running and general 
movements of the body. 

II. Exercises with portable 
instruments. 

Repetition of the free exercises, 
but with the hands bearing sticks, 
wooden dumb-bells or light clubs. — 
Exercises by twos with the stick. — 
Jumps on the unfixed jumping-appa- 
ratus. — Playing ball, marbles, trund- 
ling the hoop. 

For the girls Schools : Skipping 



14 The Training in Gymnastics 



with simple rotation, with the small 
and with the large skipping-rope. — 
Shuttlecock and the first exercises of 
the graces. 

III. Exercises on the fixed apparatus. 

It will be permitted to execute the 
movements of the « free » exercise- 
type sort either on the apparatus or 
on the school-benches, the pupils sit- 
ting down, suspending or resting 
themselves at the same time on the 
upper and lower limbs. 

Middle Degree. 

Remark. In the middle and higher 
degrees, the exercises of the lower 
one will be resumed and performed 
with more energy, amplitude and 
precision. 

I. Exercises without apparatus. 

1. Order Exercises. — New pro- 
ceedings for the formations and the 



in the State Secondary Schools 15 



takings of distances. — Obliques and 
demi-tours ; doubling and undoubling 
of files and ranks. — More comple- 
xed figures accompanied by exercises 
and songs, 

2. Real exercises : Combinations 
uniting the exercises of two or three 
sorts — « d'a fond » — movements ; 
wrestlings and oppositions. — First 
exercises of swimming out of the wa- 
ter. — Pacing in triple time, gallo- 
ping, changing the pace. — Longer 
sustained runs, swift-running. 

Jumps with maintainings and mo- 
vements of the arms. 

New games with more complicated 
rules : the bars, blindman's buff etc., 
etc. 

II. Exorcises with portable 
instruments . 

Stretchings and beatings with the 
clubs. — Circumductions with the 
dumb-bells. — Combinations of these 



16 The Training in Gymnastics 



exercises with one another and with 
other exercises of the trunk or of the 
lower limbs. — Analogous exercises 
for the movements with the stick. 

For girts schools : Double tour 
at the skipping-rope ; exercises by 
twos ; varied paces. — Jumping with 
the stick. 

III. Exercises on the fixed apparatus. 

Suspensions, supports, elevations 
and progressions by means of the 
upper and lower limbs. — Marches 
and runs on the beam and on the 
oblique board. — Sitting and jum- 
ping at the stool and at the beam. — 
Exercises in the school-room with 
the aid of the benches : supporting 
one self with one hand ; exercises 
when sitting or, — whether obliquely 
or horizontally-leaning. 

Games. — Equilibrium at the ap- 
paratus. — Wrestlings and opposi- 



in the State Secondary Schools 17 



tions with the sticks, the poles and 
the ropes. 

Third Degree. 

Exercises without Instruments . 

1. Exorcises of order. — Princi- 
pal evolutions of the platoon-school 
and of the company-school. — Ladies' 
chains ; quadrilles. 

2. Real exercises . — Combinations 
of movements of three or four diffe- 
rent types. Longer sustained equili- 
briums accompanied by maintai- 
nances and movements more difficult 
than those of the middle degree. — - 
Conveyance of children, sick and 
wounded persons. — Dancing-pace. 
— Excursions. Combined jumps ; 
double jump. 

Games. 

II. Exercises with portable 
Instruments. 

Use of the stick and of the small 



18 The Training in Gymnastics 



iron dumb-bells. Combined exercises 
with the sticks, the dumb-bells, the 
clubs. — Elementary exercises with 
the royal stick and with the wand. 
— Swimming movements at the woo- 
den horse. — Divers games. 

For the girls school : dancing- pace 
and varied runs at the small rope ; 
arms- crossing ; union of the large and 
of the small ropes ; the two large 
ropes. — Shuttlecock, lawn-tennis, 
graces (in a circle and in divers dis- 
positions). 

III. Exercises on the fixed apparatus 

Inflected suspension. — Progres- 
sions and elevations. — Stretched 
and inflected leaning. — Sitting. — 
Deep jump ; jumping at the double 
bar, at the stool, at the pole. 

N. B. A detailed instruction will 
be published, explaining the interpre- 
tation that is to be put upon this pro- 
gramme. 



in the State Secondary Schools 19 



PROGRAMME 

For the middle section. 

I. Exercises without Instruments. 

Order-exercises. — Marches and 
evolutions ; formation in ranks and 
taking of distances in divers ways : 
the length of the arms ; 1, 2, 3... 
steps forward, backward, sideways 
or obliquely ; distance at sight ; dou- 
bling, trebling, quadrupling, on the 
spot and during the march ; conver- 
sions etc. . . Marches in ranks ; eighths, 
quarters and demitours ; changing of 
direction, countermovements, spirals, 
serpentines, combined figures ; mo- 
vements of the platoon- school and of 
the companyschool. 

N. B. In all these exercises the ob- 
ject to be aimed at, is a very correct 
bearing, a well cadenced pace, an alert 
march, a perfect regularity in the 



3 



20 The Training in Gymnastics 



drawing of the figures and a great 
simplicity in the changes of position. 

Real exercises. — Repetition of 
the simple exercises and of the com- 
binations taught in the preparatory 
section. These exercises are progres- 
sively rendered more difficult through 
modifications in the positions , the 
adjunction of such maintainances as 
require a more energetic muscular 
contraction, a longer sustained dura- 
tion, a more rigorous precision. There 
will be made use of combinations of 
exercises of different types for the 
education of the nervous system ; a 
few series of them shall be formed. 

Equilibrium- exercises. 

The preceding exercises combined 
with marches, poses and « d'a fond » 
marches. 

Wrestlings and oppositions. 

Principles and applications of the 
marches, the runs and the jumps. 

Swimming-exercises, if possible. 

Numerous and varied games. 



in the State Secondary Schools 21 



II. Exercises with portable 
instruments. 

Exercises in the form of the « free » 
exercises with use of the wooden and 
iron wands, of the bars with spheres, 
of the wooden and iron dumb-bells 
(3 to 8 kilogrammes), of clubs. 

Special exercises : elevations, ba- 
lancings, extensions ; exercises by 
twos with the wands ; by twos, threes, 
fours with one or two poles. Clap- 
pings with the dumb-bells, circum- 
duction of the wrists and of the arms 
with clubs. Combinations of these 
movements with one another and with 
other exercises 

Jumps with one or two poles. 

Wrestlings and oppositions with 
the wands, the poles, the ropes. 

Exercises with the royal stick and 
with the wand. 

Conveyance of children, of sick and 
wounded persons. 

Ball, foot-ball, bowls, ninepins, 
etc., etc. 



22 The Training in Gymnastics 



III. Exercises on the fixed apparatus. 

Repetition of the exercises of the 
programme of the preparatory section . 

Developments of themaintainances 
and progressions at the stretched and 
inflected leanings on the poles, ropes, 
espaliers, frames, bars, orthopedical 
board and assault-boards, stool, beam, 
horse ; sitting and vaulting. More 
complexed associations of exercises 
or of maintainances and exercises. 
Passage from suspension to leaning 
and vice-versa, by successive or si- 
multaneous movements ; combina- 
tions. 

Equilibrium-exercises : maintai- 
nances, marches, runs, combined with 
exercises, on the beam and the incli- 
ned board. 

Deep-jumps and divers jumps on 
the movable jumping-apparatus ; on 
the stool on the horse, on the beam, 
on the double bar. 

Suspending and leaning-exercises 



in the State Secondary Schools 23 



in the school-room at one or two 
benches. 

Distribution of time. 

Two and half hours a week of 
gymnastics is prescribed in each 
course i. e. the pupils have half-an 
hour of lesson a day, except on Thurs- 
day when they get their weekly half- 
holiday. 



II. — The training of the teaching staff 



A. — TEMPORARY COURSES 

Notwithstanding the care which 
the authors of the programmes of 
1874 had bestowed on their work, 
Government, taught by experience, 
thought it impossible to ensure its 
success without the teaching body 
being previously prepared, by special 
courses of study, to practise the exer- 
cises with method and correction. 

With this view were organised 
« temporary courses of lectures » that 
were delivered during the long vaca- 
tion, several years in succession and 
which the masters, attached to the 
divers categories of establishments of 
instruction, were successively called 
to. 

The first of these courses, being 
designed for the professors in the pri- 



in the State Secondary Schools 25 



mary and secondary Normal Schools 
of both the sexes, were decreed by 
the royal Decree of July 9, 1874. 

They were instituted in the pri- 
mary Normal Schools for schoolmas- 
ters and schoolmistresses at Nivelles, 
and in the secondary Normal Section 
at the same town. 

No one was admitted to them but 
such persons as were intrusted with 
the course in gymnastics in the pri- 
mary Normal Schools and in the State 
and municipal schools for secondary 
instruction. The same royal Decree 
also organised in a few primary Nor- 
mal Schools, which a ministerial dis- 
position was later on to designate, 
normal courses of lectures that should 
be attended by a certain number of 
schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, 
chosen from the members of the per- 
sonnel of such Schools, that were 
already provided with a gymnasium 
and from persons who revealed a 
special ability for the teaching of cor- 
poral exercises. 



26 The Training in Gymnastics 



In consequence of these temporary 
courses examinations were held before 
a special jury and certificates of pro- 
ficiency were conferred. The mini- 
sterial Decree of July 10, 1874 took 
the measures required for the royal 
Decree to be executed. 

The temporary course lasted two 
months for gentlemen and six weeks 
for ladies ; it included : 

1° The history and methodology of 
gymnastics ; 

2° The rudiments of anatomy, phy- 
siology and hygiene ; 

3° Practical exercises. 

Four lessons of one year were 
given per week in each of the two 
first subjects of instruction mentioned 
above. The practical course lasted 
four hours a day. 

The Jury of examination was com- 
posed of the professors intrusted with 
the theoretical and practical teaching 



in the State Secondary Schools 27 



at the temporary courses, and of dele- 
gates of the Government. 

The examination was divided in 
three parts : 

1° A written one, including peda- 
gogy in its connection with physical 
education, the methodology of gym- 
nastics and elementary anatomy, phy- 
siology and hygiene ; 

2° A practical part, including the 
performance of a certain number of 
exercises taken from the different 
parts of the programme ; 

3° A didactical part, consisting in 
a lesson in practical gymnastics, 
which every candidate was to give. 

The candidates that had past the 
three parts of the examination were 
granted a diploma ascertaining them 
possess the required knowledge to 
teach gymnastics in a Normal School. 

The scale of marks was fixed as 
follows : 



28 The Training in Gymnastics 



A. Written 
part 



B. Practical 
part 



History, pedagogy and 
methodology . . 25 

Anatomy, physiology 
and hygiene . . 25 



Free exercises and of 
order. .... 20 

Exercises on the appa- 
ratus . . . . 20 



50 



40 



C. Didactic part 60 

Total ~150 marks. 



The candidates that attained a 
general average of at least 100 marks, 
passed their examination, satisfacto- 
rily (« d'une maniere satisfaisante ») ; 
those that attained 120 and 130, got 
the diploma conferred on them « cum 
laucle » (« ayec distinction ») and 
« magna cum laude » (« avec grande 
distinction ») respectively. 

Fifteen teachers and thirty- four 
mistresses attended the courses in 
1874 ; a hundred in 1875. 



in the State Secondary Schools 29 



The lectures that were delivered 
later on, were designed for the school- 
masters for primary school-teaching. 

B. — EXAMINATION 

Since gymnastics were introduced 
as an obligatory subject in the pri- 
mary Normal Schools and in the se- 
condary Normal Sections, the Govern- 
ment did not think it any longer 
necessary to organise new special 
courses for the teachers of secondary 
education. However, the institution 
of the examinations became perma- 
nent in order that all those who were 
desirous of having their aptitude for 
the teaching of gymnastics ascer- 
tained, might be examined and have 
a diploma of capacity conferred on 
them. The rules governing these exa- 
minations were definitively fixed by 
the ministerial Decree of June 25, 
1881 and slightly modified by the 
subsequent Decrees. 



30 The Training in Gymnastics 



According to these regulations, 
no persons are admitted to the 
examination leading to the diploma 
of capacity for the training in gym- 
nastics in the royal Athenaea, the 
State secondary Schools, the munici- 
pal Colleges and the municipal secon- 
dary. Schools, except they be either 
in function, as regents or regentesses, 
schoolmasters or schoolmistresses in 
some etablishment of secondary edu- 
cation, or except they hold a certifi- 
cate of capacity for the teaching of 
gymnastics in the primary Schools. 
However those that hold a diploma 
of schoolmaster or of schoolmistress, 
dated after the year • 1877 (epoch 
from which gymnastics are one of 
the subjects of the leaving-examina- 
tions of the primary Normal Schools) 
are dispensed with producing this 
certificate. The candidates whom the 
diploma of « professeur agrege » in 
the line of secondary education has 
been conferred on, after having atten- 



in the State Secondary Schools 31 



ded, for two years, the courses in a 
State secondary Normal Section, are 
also admitted without this certificate. 

To be admitted to the examination 
leading to the diploma of capacity for 
the training in gymnastics in a secon- 
dary Normal School, candidates must 
have obtained, since one year at least, 
the diploma of capacity for the. tea- 
ching of gymnastics in an establish- 
ment of secondary education. 

These restrictions, as well as the 
relatively great number of marks the 
theoretical part counts for, prove that 
the Government is anxious to see the 
diploma conferred only on such per- 
sons as it may safely rely on, as for 
their scientific and pedagogic lear- 
ning. 

In 1896, the jury, acknowledging 
the guarantees ensuing from the pos- 
session of a diploma of schoolmaster, 
of schoolmistress, of regent or of 
regentess to be of such a nature as to 
remove all care about this matter, de- 



32 The Training in Gymnastics 



cided that the practical part and the 
technical knowledge should thence- 
forth count for more mar\ks than they 
had previously done. As a conse- 
quence, the maximum of marks for 
each part was fixed according to the 
following scale : 



A. Written 
part 



B Practical 
part 



Pedagogy, methodology \ 
and history . . 25 / 

Anatomy, physiology i 
25 J 

Free exercises and of / 
order . . . . 40 I 

(80 

Exercises on the appa- / 
ratus .... 40 \ 



C. Didactical part J50_ 

Total 190 marks. 

A maximum of marks of 125, 145 
and 160 was required for a diploma 
with the mentions : satisfactorily 
(« dune maniere satisfaisante ») cum 
laude (« avec distinction »J magna 
cum laude (' avec grande distinction ') 



in the State Secondary Schools 33 



respectively, and the jury also main- 
tained the obligation-already admit- 
ted several years before — to obtain 
at least one half of the marks in each 
of the three parts of the examination. 

PROGRAMME 

of the written part. 

I. General survey of the history of 
gymnastics. (This part being reserved 
for the examination of the diploma of 
capacity, for secondary normal school 
teaching.) 

1° The corporal exercises among 
the ancient eastern nations, among 
the Greeks, among the Romans and 
in the middle- ages. 

2° Gymnastics in modern times. 
Creation of gymnastics iii Sweden 
and in Germany. Introduction of 
gymnastics in the other European 
countries. 



34 The Training in Gymnastics 



Observation. — The history of gym- 
nastics in modern times will chiefly 
be connected with the names of the 
following masters : 

A. Pedagogical authors ; Mon- 
taigne, Locke, Rousseau, Salzmann, 
Campe and Pestalozzi ; 

B. Creators of systems : Basedow, 
Euler,Vieth, Guts-Muts, Jahn, Eise- 
len, Spiess, Amoros and Ling ; 

3° Theoretical and practical expo- 
sition, concerning the system which 
is adopted in Belgium. 

II. Pedagogy : physical education. 

1° Object and importance of the 
physical education ; 

2° Importance of general and school- 
hygiene ; 

3° Gymnastics : their purpose, their 
advantages ; 

4° Children's games. 



in the State Secondary Schools 35 



III. Methodology of gymnastics. 

1° Distribution of the exercises and 
programme for the different classes, 
with respect to the age and other 
conditions of the pupils ; 

2° Time that is to be devoted to 
the exercises ; 

3° Method of training in gymnastics; 

4° Order and discipline ; 

5° The professor of gymnastics . 

Personal qualities. — Monitors. 

6° Material means : a) the exerci- 
sing- room, its construction and its 
dependencies ; b) the instruments and 
the gymnastic apparatus ; c) the cos- 
tume; d) the commandment, singing; 
e) rythmus and cadence. 

IV '. Elementary anatomy , physiology 
and hygiene. 

I. Functions of nutrition. 
1° Summary description of the di- 



36 The Training in Gymnastics 



gestive apparatus. — Principal phe- 
nomena of the digestion. 

2° Composition of the blood. — 
Summary description of the circula- 
tory apparatus. — Mechanism of cir- 
culation. — Pulse. 

3° The object of respiration. — Sum- 
mary description of the respiratory 
apparatus. — Explanation of the phe- 
nomenon of respiration. — Animal 
heat. — Asphyxy. 

4° Secretions and exhalations. — 
Glands. — Skin. 

5° Assimilation. 

II. Joining functions. 

6° The osseous system as basis of 
the apparatus of motion. — Summary 
description of the skeleton. — Struc- 
ture and development of the bones. — 
Joints. 

7° The muscular system. — Struc- 
ture and way of insertion of the 
muscles. — Disposition and action of 



in the Stale Secondary Schools 37 



the principal muscles. — Mechanism 
of the movements. — Effects of the 
gymnastic movements on the muscles 
and, consequently, on the general 
circulation. 

8° The nervous system. — Sum- 
mary description of the cerebrospinal 
system. — Functions of the nervous 
system .—Nerves of sensibility, nerves 
of motions. — Organs of senses. 

III. Hygiene in its connection with 
gymnastics. — The knowledge of the 
remedies that are to be used in case 
of accidents occurring. 

A FEW QUESTIONS COLLECTED FROM 
THE EXAMINATION-PAPERS OF THE 
LAST DECENNAL PERIOD. 

History. — a) What was the object 
of the physical education in Greece ? 
Show the means the Greeks, used in 
order to secure it. Appreciate them. 

b) Concisely characterise the object 



38 The Training in Gymnastics 



of gymnastics in antiquity, in the 
middle-ages and in modern times. 

c) What place do the Philanthro- 
pists occupy in the history of gymnas- 
tics ? 

d) Explain the physical education 
system of Guts-Muths. 

e) Concisely state the object of gene- 
ral education according to Rousseau. 
Show that his physical education sys- 
tem answered his purpose. 

f) Which was the German gym- 
nast who most contributed to the de- 
velopment of the girl's gymnastics? 
Characterise his system. 

g) Explain the Swedish system, 
show its advantages and the influence 
it exercised on the programmes of 
gymnastics. 

h) Explain the gymnastic system 
of Amoros. 

i) Draw a parallel between the sys- 
tems of Ling and of Spiess. 

/) Which are the principles Locke 
is guided by in his counsels on phy- 



in the State Secondary Schools 39 



sical education I Show how he applies 
them. 

Pedagogy. — a) Is there an over- 
exertion of the body in physical edu- 
cation, analogous to the overexertion 
of the mind in the intellectual educa- 
tion ? How can it be produced and 
what are its consequences ? 

b) Show that the liberty of man 
increases with the strength he dis- 
poses of. 

c) Show the effects of physical and 
moral hardening and the connection 
between both. Draw practical conclu- 
sions with regard to the education of 
woman. 

d) Appreciate this thought of Frce- 
bel : Playing is not to be considered 
as a frivolous thing ; on the contrary 
it is a thing of great moment. 

e) To what extent shall the chil- 
dren's intellectual powers intervene, 
during the gymnastic lessons ? 

f) Appreciate this thought of M me 



40 The Training in Gymnastics 



Necker de Saussure : It is to woman 
that is due the existence of a genera- 
tion either active, vigorous and sound, 
or weak, unsteady, enervate. — Draw 
practical conclusions from it. 

g) Shall a professor of gymnastics 
attend to his pupils' physical educa- 
tion only ? 

h) How can gymnastics contribute 
to the citizen's education ? 

i) Show the effects of gymnastics 
on moral culture. Do all gymnastic 
exercises give good results ? Under 
what circumstances are those results 
obtained ? 

j) How can the training in gymnas- x 
tics contribute to the education of 
energy, temper and courage ? 

Methodology. — a) Show the im- 
portance of order in the gymnastic 
lesson and indicate the means to 
obtain it. 

b) Which are the principles on 
which the choice of the exercises and 
the conditions of a good execution 
shall be based ? 



in the State Secondary Schools 41 



c) How would you do to train 
pupils of different classes and of dif- 
ferent ages at a time in gymnastics ? 

d) Indicate the advantages and the 
drawbacks of the order exercises ; 
draw consequences as to their use. 

e) Shall a gymnastic lesson be ana- 
logous to a lesson in the other sub- 
jects? Draw from its purpose, practi- 
cal conclusions for your teaching. 

f) How would you subject the 
training in gymnastics to the prin- 
ciple of attraction and of personal 
observation ? 

g) Which are the defects of school- 
life ? Indicate the exercises that are 
to be executed in order to combat 
them . 

h) Formulate a complete series of 
exercises composed each of them of 
two movements in an opposite direc- 
tion . 

i) What do you call esthetical 
exercises ? Show the necessity of them 
for girls. Indicate a certain number 



42 The Training in Gymnastics 



of exercises of this kind, to be perfor- 
med in the secondary schools. 

j) Show the advantages of a serious 
preparation to give a good lesson in 
gymnastics. 

What ought this preparation to be 
at the beginning of the training ? 
what may it be, afterwards ? 

Anatomy. — a) Which is the mode 
of acting of all the muscles of the 
upper limb ? 

b) Describe the circulatory appa- 
ratus. 

c) Indicate the composition of the 
bones and their classification. 

d) Tell which are the muscles of 
the lower limb and which is their 
action. 

e) Enumerate the movable joints, 
and tell the possible movements in 
each of them. 

f) Describe the muscle. 

g) Describe the skeleton of the 
thorax. 



in the State Secondary Schools 43 



h) Describe the brain and the spi- 
nal marrow. 

i) Give a brief description of the 
skeleton. 

j) Give the description of the cir- 
culatory system. 

k) Give a concise description of the 
organs of sense. 

I) Describe tne respiratory appa- 
ratus. 

Physiology. — a) Expose the phe- 
nomena of nutrition, and tell how 
corporal exercises can favour these 
phenomena. 

b) Expose the mechanism of the cir- 
culation of the blood. — How does 
the muscular exercise favour this cir- 
culation ? 

c) Make known the phenomena 
that produce animal heat. 

d) Enumerate the principal excre- 
tory organs, indicating the part of 
each of them in organic life. 

e) Expose the working of the respi- 
ratory apparatus. 



44 The Training in Gymnastics 



f) Mention the physiological effects 
of the effort, and the phenomena 
resulting from the abuse of exercise. 

g) Expose the modifications which 
azotized food undergoes during the 
digestion. 

h) Which are the physiological 
effects of speed — and strength — 
exercising? 

i) Give a description of the physio- 
logy of the nervous system. 

j) Which is the nutritive power of 
the different food stuffs. 

Hygiene. — a) Make known the 
hygienic functions of the skin and in- 
dicate the precautions that are to be 
taken in order to favour these func- 
tions. 

b) Which are the characters of 
drink water ? 

c) Which are the alterations of the 
air and the means to remedy them '? 

d) Develop the resources hygiene 
possesses in the different applications 
of water. 



in the State Secondary Schools 45 



e) What hygienic conditions must 
a gymnasium answer I 

f) How can gymnastics prevent 
and combat the effect of the vicious 
attitudes, which children assume while 
at school ? 

g) How can gymnastics prevent the 
effects of intellectual overwork I 

h) Which are the principal hygienic 
rules that are to be observed in the 
organisation of the lessons in gym- 
nastics ? 

i) Which is the influence of the 
movements in general and of gym- 
nastics in particular on the digestive 
function ? 

j) Wherein are gymnastics supe- 
rior to the other corporal exercises as 
regards hygiene I 

k) Prove that running can be at a 
time beneficial and prejudicial to the 
functions of the heart. 

I) How can man secure himself 
from exterior influences I 

m) Which are the causes that can 



46 The Training in Gymnastics 



effect an accumulation of carbonic 
acid in the system ? 

n ) Which hygienic conditions must 
clothes answer according to seasons 
and ages ? 

A FEW SUBJECTS FOR LESSONS. 
SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR BOYS. 

a) 1 Order six exercises of different 
kinds and of such a nature as to 
develop the energy and the tenacity, 
to be executed (1). 

2 Teach (1) the order exercise : 
changing of direction while marching 
in columns. 

b) 1 Order two sections of pupils, 



(1) The didactic test is usually divided into two 
parts. The one, the subject of which is indicated 
by the words : order to... to be performed, sup- 
poses the exercises to be known of the pupils ; 
the professor must compose them to his liking, 
command them, direct and superintend their 
execution. The expression : teach, supposes a 
new exercise, the pupils have to perform for the 
hist time. 



in the State Secondary Schools 47 



— one of them being on the parallel 
bars and the other on the horizontal 
ladder, — to work under the same 
commandment. 

2 Teach t tie quarter of a tour during 
the march , 1° without doubling 2° with 
doubling. 

c) 1 Order two flexions, two rota- 
tions and two circumductions with 
« d'a fond » — movements, to be 
executed. 

2 Teach the struggle with a pole and 
a combined exercise on the horse. 

d) 1 Order two series of exercises 
to be performed the former being fit 
for amplifying the chest, the latter 
for developing the strength of the 
muscles that make it act. 

2 Teach the double jump on the 
jumping-apparatus. 

Girls secondary teaching. 

a) 1. Order a series of exercises 
to be executed. Teach one of them. 



48 The Training in Gymnastics 



2. Conclude your lesson with a 
very lively game. 

b) 1. Make a repetition of exer- 
cises fit for increasing the agility, 
alternating with exercises fit for 
amplifying the chest. 

2. Teach two circumductions with 
the cane. 

c) 1. Order six exercises with the 
wand to be executed, combined with 
movements of the body and of the 
lower limbs. 

2. Teach an exercise with the 
skipping-rope. 

d) 1. Make a repetition of exer- 
cises fit for developing the muscular 
strength. 

2. Teach a very recreative game. 

Secondary normal teaching, 
a) Give a compete (1) lesson. Bring 



(1) A complete lesson means a lesson inclu- 
ding the different groups of exercises set forth 
in the scheme or plan of lesson as reproduced 
further on. 



in the State Secondary Schools 49 



briefly into relief the different parts 
of it, and justify the choice of exer- 
cises you have made with regard to 
the rectification of the attitudes of the 
vertebral column and the bearing of 
the shoulders. 

b) Give a complete lesson, and make 
your pupils, future mistresses of 
gymnastics, understand, the value and 
the importance 1° of the equilibrium- 
exercises 2° of the respiratory exer- 
cises you introduce into them. 

c) Give a complete lesson wherein 
you will show the advantage a pro- 
fessor can derive from the changes of 
attitude and of bearing in order to 
vary and graduate the exercises. 

d) Give a complete lesson including, 
in the group of the general exercises, 
combinations of exercises without 
apparatus, made up, each of them, 
of parallel movements of two like 
parts of the body and of a movement, 
diverging (in direction) of a third 
part. — Make your pupils know 



50 The Training in Gymnastics 



this way of combining and tell them 
how to use it, in order to proceed 
gradually. 

ej In a complete lesson given to 
your pupils, future teachers, order 
to be executed, in the quality of 
movements fit for rectifying the 
attitudes of the vertebral column, 
exercises with the sticks and exer- 
cises on the benches (if benches are 
wanting, on the horizontal beam). 
Explain the different purposes and 
effects of these two kinds of exer- 
cises. 

C. — Results of the examinations. 

In consequence of the temporary 
normal course of 1874, fifteen pro- 
fessors and thirty-four mistresses 
were awarded the diploma, decla- 
ring them to be qualified for the tea- 
ching of gymnastics in a primary or 
secondary Normal School. 



in the State Secondary Schools 51 



The examinations that were held 
in 1875 permitted a diploma to be 
delivered to 91 candidates, who thus 
had the required qualifications con- 
ferred on them, to get a situation as 
a professor of gymnastics in a royal 
Athenseum, a municipal College or a 
boys' secondary School. 

The examinations which have been 
organised since then, have no lon- 
ger been preceded by special pre- 
paratory courses. Most of the candi- 
dates who come up themselves for such 
an examination are students who have, 
lately, left the Training Schools for 
schoolmasters or schoolmistresses or 
the Normal Sections for regents or 
regentesses of secondary education. 
The following table gives information 
about the number of persons on whom 
a diploma has been conferred, down 
to this day. 



52 The Training in Gymnastics 



YEAR 


Diploma of 

professor in a 
secondary normal 
school for boys (1) 


Diploma of mistress 
of gymmastics in a 
secondary normal 
school for girls 


Diploma of 
professor in an 
athenasum a college 
or a secondary 
school for boys 


Diploma of mistress 
of gymnastics in a 
secondary school 
for girls 


1876 


7 




24 




1877 


12 


» 


20 


* 


1878 


3 




M 


* 


1870 


6 


* 


25 


» 


1880 


X . 




38 




l88l 


1 


» 


21 


17 


1882 


- 5 




20 


38 


1883 


4 


2 


7° 


39 


I884 


7 


3 


53 


21 


1885 


6 


4 


44 


40 


I886 


1 





40 


5 2 


1887 


5 


2 


c r 


3 1 


1888 


2 


2 


62 


45 


I889 


.7 


4 


46 


55 


I89O 


6 


2 


50 


45 


I89I 


3 




46 


48 


1892 


4 


1 


40 


44 


1893 


6 


8 


34 


'67 


1894 


4 


10 


38 


72 


I °95 


5 


10 


35 


74 


I896 


3 


5 


32 


49 


I897 


1 


4 


29 


5o 


I898 




11 


23 


5i 


I899 




8 


11 


15 


1900 


» 


4 


. l 9 


32 


1901 


1 


1 


28 


37 


1902 


4 


3 


21 


47 


1903 


1 


9 


26 

1 


1 53 



N. B. Until 1880, the examination was com- 
mon for the candidates of the primary training 
schools and o the secondary training schools. 



III. — Situation of the Professors. 



The salary of the teachers of gym- 
nastics is fixed as follows by the 
royal Decree of December, 15, 1875: 

1° In the Athensea : minimum, 
1400 francs ; maximum, 1600 francs ; 

2° In the boys' secondary Schools : 
minimum, 900 francs ; maximum, 
1100 francs ; 

3 e In the girls' secondary Schools : 
minimum, 900 francs ; maximum, 
. 1100 francs. 

Every teacher begins with the 
minimum pay. No one gets the maxi- 
mum pay except after having enjoyed 
the minimum for three years. 

The maximum salary may be 
raised by one third when the teacher 
has enjoyed it for ten consecutive 
years and when he, moreover, has 
proved his merit and devotion. 



54 The Training in Gymnastics 



When the professor of gymnastics 
occupies other paid functions in the 
school with which he is connected, 
the above-indicated salary is reduced 
by one half (Athensea) or by one 
quarter (secondary schools). 



IV. — Regulative Dispositions. 



A. — THE TEACHING OF GYMNASTICS 
IS PUT ON THE SAME FOOTING 
AS OTHER SUBJECTS. 

The old programme allowed the 
teaching of gymnastics to take place 
during playtime; but this provision 
has been suppressed by the ministe- 
rial Decree of September, 11, 1897 
by which the programme of the in- 
struction that is to be given in the 
State scondary Schools, was fixed; 
the result is that nowadays this sub- 
ject is inscribed on the time-table in 
the same quality as the others. Two 
and a half hours a week are now 
devoted to it i. e. half an hour a day 
with the exception of Thursday, this 
being the weekly half-holiday. 

In the athensea and the colleges, 
the pupils get two hours of lesson 



56 The Training in Gymnastics 



per week; in the secondary normal 
schools, three hours. 

Moreover, gymnastics are included 
in all the examinations ; they count 
for a certain number of marks in the 
competition for the general prizes 
and the leaving diploma at the com- 
pletion of the course of studies 
(articles 39, 41, 42, 51 and 60 of the 
home-Regulations of the State secon- 
dary Schools, dated May, 15, 1899). 

As the Regulations of the secon- 
dary Schools have been rendered appli- 
cable to the royal Athensea, a minis- 
terial Circular of November, 7, 1899 
has decided that gymnastics shall 
count for 25 marks in the competi- 
tion. 

B. — - INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING 
THE TEACHING OF GYMNASTICS IN THE 
ROYAL ATHENzEA 
AND THE STATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

They are included in the minis- 
terial Circular of March 1, 1897. 



in the State Secondary Schools 57 



1° Buildings and Equipment 

The Head Masters of school must 
take care that the gymnasia be kept 
beautifully neat and clean, this being 
an educative question and a hygienic 
measure as well. They will require 
the apparatus always to be disposed 
in order and they will do their utmost 
to have it completed wherever some 
article should be wanted. 

2° Time-table 

The lessons in gymnastics may not 
take place immediately after the 
meals i. e. at 8 in morning or at 1 or 

I. 30 p. m. It is advisable they should 
be put between the hours of the lite- 
rary and scientific courses from 9 to 

II. 30 and from 2 to 4 ; they ought 
to be disposed so as to permit the 
pupils, for whom they are designed, 
to attend them ; on account of the 
darkness, they may not take place at 
4 o'clock, in Winter. 



58 The Training in Gymnastics 



According to the royal Decree of 
December 15, 1875 organising the 
teaching of gymnastics, the lessons 
must last no longer than half an hour. 
This prescription is maintained. Ne- 
vertheless the Prefects of Studies of 
the Athensea will be authorised, on 
application stating the reason, to orga- 
nise lessons of one hour for the pupils 
of the three higher classes. 

3° Exemptions 

Conformably to the very Decree of 
1875, the pupils cannot be exempted 
from this lessons unless they produce 
a medical certificate declaring that 
they cannot possibly participate in 
the exercises. This provision must be 
observed, for it is designed for brin- 
ging into relief the importance that 
is attached to the course as an educa- 
tional element. 

4° Grouping of the pupils 

The pupils who are assembled and 
are trained simultanously in gymnas- 



in the State Secondary Schools 59 



tics must be of about the same age. 
It is illogical to put together young 
pupils of the 7th class and scholars 
of the higher classes or children that 
just enter a secondary School and 
such as have already attended for 
several years . In the secondary 
Schools where there is no Prepara- 
tory Section, two courses will be for- 
med, one of them comprising the 
pupils of the 1st study-year, the other 
those of the two first classes. In the 
preparatory Section there will also be 
constituted at least, two groups. Ho- 
wever, when the total population of 
the schools does not exceed 150 pu- 
pils, it will be allowable to constitute 
but three courses, respectively com- 
posed as follows : lower course, the 
two or three first study-years ; middle 
course, the 4th preparatory year and 
the 1st year of the middle Section (1) ; 



(l) The new regulation of the secondary Schools 
raising the number of study-years in the Prepa- 



60 The Training in Gymnastics 



higher coarse, the 2d and 3d year of 
the latter Section. 

In the Athenaea, the course -will 
be distributed according to the pres- 
cription of the programme ; besides,- 
they will manage matters so as to 
leave the groups invariable, i.e. they 
will avoid assembling pupils, now 
with those of one class, then with 
those of another. It is profitable to 
the success of the lessons and to the 
discipline to have always the same 
pupils assembled for the same in- 
struction. 

C. — INSTRUCTIONS DESIGNED 
FOR THE TEACHERS OP GYMNASTICS 
IN THE ROYAL ATHENJEA 
AND THE STATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

The object of gymnastics 

Besides that it is to contribute to 
the development of the moral quali- 



ratory Section to 6, this is given but as an indi- 
cation. 



in the State Secondary Schools 61 



ties the lesson in gymnastics aims at 
a threefold object : 

1° To strengthen health : hygienic 
object ; 

2° To give the body a harmonious 
development : esthetical object ; 

3° To teach how to make the best 
possible use of the muscle-power and 
the nervous energy : economical ob- 
ject. 

On the hygienic object 

In aiming at the first of these 
results the teacher must be persua- 
ded that the physiological excitation 
that is to produce it, depends on the 
dose of excercise, i.e. on the sum of 
muscular work and not on the violence 
of the statical effort. This is the 
reason why the lesson must present 
a great activity and animation. To 
that intent it is preferable that it 
should include a great many exercises 
rather than a small number of move- 



62 The Training in Gymnastics 



ments that would require very strong 
contractions and frequent and long 
rests. However, an exercise must not 
be repeated a great many times be- 
cause frequent repetitions soon make 
the pupils weary and so prevent them 
from performing them with the neces- 
sary energy, precision and amplitude. 
As a general rule the same movement 
should not be repeated more than 8 
or 10 times ; and the combined exer- 
cises have the more value as they are 
reproduced but 3 or 4 times 



On the esthetical object 

In order to give the body the har- 
monious shape which constitutes the 
esthetical object of gymnastics, it is 
not sufficient to get all the parts of 
the body perform exercises in several 
directions, but it is also necessary to 
have each movement assuming a par- 
ticular form, well appropriated to the 
effect they want to attain. 



in the State Secondary Schools 63 



In this respect, there is a fact that 
must particularly draw the profes- 
sor's attention viz. that the bad posi- 
tions taken by the pupils on the 
benches of the school cause certain 
deviations, the most manifest of which 
are cyphosis and lordosis. The stu- 
dent has often a prominent belly, a 
sunken chest, projecting shoulder- 
blades, a round and stooping back, 
and, as an inevitable consequence, 
his knees bow as he goes, he turns 
his toes in, his head inclines and his 
arms fall forward and draw the 
shoulders in the same direction. Phy- 
sical education must include groups 
of corrective exercises that produce 
useful and permanent modifications 
in the interdependence and the con- 
formation of the parts of the body. 

The chief, amongst these modifica- 
tions can be condensed as follows : 

1° Fixation of the shoulder, back- 
ward ; 



64 The Training in Gymnastics 



2° Expansion of the chest (by ex- 
tensive movements of the arms, long 
suspensions etc. that compel the ribs 
to rise and to open) ; 

3° Solidity of the abdominal parietes . 

On the composition of the lesson. 

With these data as a guide and ta- 
king into account the prescriptions of 
hygiene that recommend to graduate 
the work, to alternate the movements 
of the divers parts of the body, to 
have a violent exercise followed by a 
movement that calms the breathing 
and the beatings of the heart, we can 
establish the general plan of the lesson 
as follows : 

I. Preparative and training exer- 
cises : marches, order-exercises, sim- 
ple and rather feeble exercises on the 
spot or while marching, with a view 
to make the education of the rhythm 
and to prepare the pupil for the per- 
formance of more difficult exercises. 



in the State Secondary Schools 65 



II. Movements of the limbs in va- 
rious attitudes to the effect of dividing 
the work between all the parts of the 
body in order to produce a symmetri- 
cal development, to rectify bad atti- 
tudes, to amplify the thorax and to 
prepare the independence of the mus- 
cular contractions. The marches and 
the equilibrium-exercises may be com- 
prised in this group. 

III. Suspensions and supports by 
the hands of a stronger effect on the 
thoracic expansion and the muscular 
development. 

IV. Runs, shippings, general move- 
ments of a more intense effect. 

V. Special movements of the trunk 
designed for a) assuring the straight - 
ness of the vertebral column through 
energic contractions of the muscles of 
the back ; b) for fortifying the mus- 
cles of the abdomen, and ; c) for for- 
tifying those of the flanks. 



66 The Jraining in Gymnastics 



VI. Long running and swift run- 
ning, varied jumps, games ; exercises 
the effects of which are of a maxima 
intensity. 

VII. Derivative and respiratory 
exercises, slow marches and mode- 
rate movements. 

On the economical object. Combinations. 

School-gymnastics must be simple ; 
it is advisable to avoid too complexed 
combinations that require efforts of 
attention and memory, which tire 
the brain, and that paralyse cor- 
poral work. The combinations are, 
however, indispensable not only to 
bring variety into the training, but 
also completely to attain to the econo- 
mical object of corporal education, 
by perfecting the coordination of the 
nervous excitement that commands 
the muscles. 



in the State Secondary Schools 67 



It is the teacher's business to form 
these combinations and to introduce 
them in his courses so as to have them 
in a logical succession and a conti- 
nuous progression. To this intent he 
will make use of different means 
which can be summed up as follows : 

1 . Variation in extent : 

2. Change of direction ; 

3. Acceleration or slackening of 
the cadence ; modification of the 
rhythm ; 

4. Change of attitude or of posi- 
tion ; 

5. Union of two or several like 
movements of the same limb ; • 

6. Union of two or several diffe- 
rent movements of the same limb ; 

7. Combination of similar move- 
ments of two or several parts of the 
body ; 

8. Combinations of different move- 
ments of several parts of the body ; 



68 The Training in Gymnastics 



9. Combinations of movements 
with inaintainings ; 

10. Variations of these exercises 
through the simultaneous, alternative 
or successive execution of their ele- 
ments. 




in the State Secondary Schools 69 



Ex. of the muscles of the 
flanks. 

Ex. of the abdominal 
muscles. 



1 II 



PS QJD O 
S O 'Eh 

s ^ 



Ex. of the muscles of 
the back. 

Equilibrium- <j 

exercices. <u 

Stiff curve. 



A 



V 



Brussels. — Print, by Polleunis & Ceuterick 



J 



LB '12 



